Well my search is over. This past weekend I trailered home a black 1989 ST165. I had a red '88 165 for a couple years right after high school that I eventually wrecked in January 2004. The last year or so I've been searching for a good project and thought of nothing finer than another All-Trac. I stumbled upon a Craigslist ad last Sunday (11/4) and decided I needed to go have a look in person. During the week the previous owner and I came together and it was a done deal.

First, Some Pictures

Loaded up and ready for the drive home:

First thing to do was get a quick wash to see what I had gotten myself into:The body is pretty straight. The paint sucks and looks much better in these pictures than it actually is, but still... looks good dripping wet. I'm going to spend a day rubbing on it to see if I can bring it back a little, but eventually a respray will be needed.

The interior is in decent shape:The most noticeable wear area is the drivers seat as expected, but no rips or anything. For unknown reasons the steering wheel was taken apart, but all the parts are there. Red. Yeah.

The steering wheel cover had to go (it was in very bad shape):

Still has the privacy board, although it's got a few cracked corners:The bag is a few parts that came with the car (stock intake parts mostly).

Engine is complete (though not running):Damn near stock, with the exception of a reworked intake and battery relocation. Engine will more than likely be replaced. I was told it has a bad knock, will investigate further.

The tires are shot also, but seem to be holding enough air to roll around for the moment. The spare is on the passenger rear, the regular wheel is in the trunk.

The Good

- All the pieces are there and appear in good shape.- Original black car, straight body.- Interior in decent shape.- 94k miles on the odometer (low mileage chassis works out to about 4k miles per year since 1989).- I don't see much rust, actually the only bubbles I see are on the sunroof and they haven't eaten away anything yet.- Does not appear molested or abused.

The Bad

- Motor is bad.- Paint is bad.- Tires are bad.- Will probably have to add to this list as I go...

The Ugly

- Red interior.- Windows were tinted at one point, removed except for the front windows for some reason.- Red interior.

The Unknown or Undecided

- Car was last registered in 2002, so it's been sitting. All fluids will be flushed which should give me a better idea as to the overall condition of other things at the same time.- Electrical stuff. Still need to do a thorough check, but appears as though the major stuff is working.- Sunroof isn't opening, drivers window isn't opening. Can hear the motors engaging though, so hoping the motors just need to be replaced.- Stereo is not stock. Pioneer tape deck installed. Yes, tape deck. Install looks good.- Key doesn't work with passenger door lock (lock works fine though). Was told a door(s) was replaced at one point. Probably the root of the problem right there.

Plans

I'm not planning anything crazy outrageous. Just a fun little driver. I'm going to work in this order:

Awesome-Trac wrote:Funny it seems like alot of people who have once owned a Alltrac always seem to comeback

Loved my first one, but after the wreck it was completely totaled. I believe it ended up going to someone that wanted to engine to build some kind of rally car. Not sure if that ever happened or not, I don't know the person that ended up with it. The engine had been replaced with a low mileage one from Japan probably 6 months prior. So whoever it was, they should have gotten a strong motor.

88gt4DE wrote:Must be something about black tracs being towed home when purchased.

Hehe! The good ones just need a little TLC...

Thanks guys. Researching motor options right now (thread here). Next few weeks I'll hopefully have to time really see what's going on with the engine that in there and start making decisions on what I really want to do.

I got to mess around a little bit today between the rain. I bought the car with bad tires. So I was looking for something that would hold air instead of the car looking so sad in the driveway. Found a set of wheels from a Matrix on craigs complete with bald tires that hold air for $100. Good enough for now to roll around on. They don't actually look half bad really. If the wheels end up staying on there it'll probably need a spacer in the back though. There are 3 different models of tires on there, and two different sizes. I don't even want to know what kind of tire shop would put 2 different size (height) tires on an awd car...

Also got a good look at the brakes... rotors and pads are now on the list as they're pretty rusty. Pretty much expected that though, just confirmation.

Possible... I could have sworn I saw the awd badge when I met the guy. I don't know a ton about those cars though.

16x6.5 a couple more mm of backspacing than the stock Alltrac wheels. They have 205 width tires, one or the other would probably be fine, but not both. I think its rubbing on the spring perch in the back. No problems up front I don't think. I'll probably just keep an eye out for a set of tires in the meantime and see where it goes from there.

I might drop the gas tank tomorrow and clean it out. If that goes OK I may try to start it.